Emily’s Blog: Native Mythology

Hey guys! Today, I thought I’d introduce you guys to some of the older mysteries surrounding this area. Everyone has their local lore, but this stuff is ancient. And I mean like antediluvian old.

First things first: the science. Basically the dating in this big old hunk of rock goes back almost 20 million years to a time of crazy violent volcanic activity. As a result of the composite of the mountain, most people believe our fabled goldmine would actually have to be a cache of gold, but that’s something we’ll go into detail in later. But, the first people to attach crazy stories to this place were the Pima tribe who lived in the area.

One of the big ones that comes from the Pima peoples is that the top of the mountain housed a gaping hole that was not only the source of all the winds of the world, but the entrance to their underworld. Not spooky enough for you? Well try this creepy coincidence on for size: the Pima tribe, located thousands and thousands and an entire ocean away from the peoples of the Cradle of Civilization, had a flood myth. Most of us will know the idea of a “flood myth” from stories in the Bible and a forced reading of the Epic of Gilgamesh sometime during your high school career.

Flood myths are another animal entirely and traverse basically every known culture. There’s even some level of historicity with them, at least in a case by case sense. Whether or not these great deluges actually happened or not is a discussion for someone else’s podcast, what I have for you is a tale fairly similar to the one we all know of dear Noah but with a much more macabre ending. This story takes several faces of the years and has, unfortunately, likely been the victim of some cultural appropriation and unfortunate tampering but here’s the bare bones of how it went down:

Like all flood myths, the peoples in this were being punished for their actions or lack of fealty to their deities. As punishment literally rained down, a group of Pima tribe members made an escape to the top of the Superstition Mountain. Once up there, trapped by the risen water level, they were petrified–whether this was a punishment for escaping the flood or a tribe shaman did it sometimes changes on how people retell it. But from this petrification, they became the dangerous looking rock pinnacles on the top of the mountain. Take another look at them (or your first look, depending on where you live) and you might find they actually are strangle statue shaped.

Beyond this there is also talk of the Apache thunder god taking up residence in the mountain, among other stories. Essentially, this place lives up to its name. Which is going to make it some serious fodder for crazy media junkies but, it’s better to get the weird out before we delve into the real, right? Check my blogs for more supplemental updates and thanks for reading (and listening!)